The present invention relates to planetary gears of the type having six planet gears.
Assume a planetary gear of particular dimensions, one may increase the transmission capability of such a gear by increasing the number of planets from three to up to seven. In order to evenly distribute the load, i.e. the torque upon all of the planets, particularly when there are more than four of them, one uses the elastic deformation of the outer ring having internal gear teeth (see e.g. "BHS Getriebetechnik", a house publication of the company: Bayrische Berghutten und Salzwerke AG.). The forces needed here for elastically deforming that annulus, produce an asymmetric torque distribution wherein the degree of asymmetry depends upon the permissible elastic deformation.
Another type of load distribution is disclosed, e.g. in US-Letters Pat. No. 3,964,334, having five regularly distributed planet gears. The planet wheels are elastically mounted in the spider or planet carrier, the mount being of a special construction.
Independently from the foregoing, Canadian Pat. No. 988,743 describes a reversible gear for snow vehicles which has six unevenly distributed planet wheels.